Saturday, 22 August 2009

How-To: Install OpenOffice 3.1 in Debian 5.0 Lenny

Debian Lenny comes by default with OpenOffice 2.6.4, but in the meantime OpenOffice 3.1 was released. You can easily install it on your Debian box by using the Debian Lenny backports repository, which is a repository including newer versions of applications than the ones which come by default with Lenny. Just follow the steps below:

Add the backports repositoriesTo add the Lenny backports repositories, just edit as root your /etc/apt/sources.list file and add the following line:

Make sure to save the file (Ctrl+O followed by Ctrl+X in Nano) and proceed to the next step.

Install the Debian backports keyringAs root, type:

apt-get install debian-backports-keyring

This will install the debian-backports-keyring package, adding the key to your trusted repository keys.

Update the package listsNow, update the package lists as root:

apt-get update

And install OpenOffice.org:

apt-get -t lenny-backports install openoffice.orgThis should be all. OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 should be now installed properly on your Debian box, and you can run it by typing openoffice.org in a Run box or opening a terminal application and typing openoffice.org.

Reading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency treeReading state information... DoneSome packages could not be installed. This may mean that you haverequested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstabledistribution that some required packages have not yet been createdor been moved out of Incoming.The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies: openoffice.org: Depends: openoffice.org-core (= 1:3.1.0-5~bpo50+2) but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-writer but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-calc but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-impress but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-draw but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-math but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-base but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-report-builder-bin but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-officebean but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-filter-mobiledev but it is not going to be installed Depends: openoffice.org-java-common (> 2.2.0-4) but it is not going to be installed Recommends: openoffice.org-filter-binfilter but it is not going to be installedE: Broken packages

Then I used my "synaptic" Package manager and marked "UPGRADE" on OpenOffice packages. "Synaptic"

(i) downloaded all the new ( Office 3.1 ) files required(ii) Removed old OpenOffice Files(iii) Then (apparently) installed the latest Open Office files.

I could not install the latest version of Open Office on Debian 5. Not only that Due to some glitch, which I am not able to trace, even my good old version of Open Office also stopped working. I had to re install the older version of that again.